Stratford Mayor John Harkins celebrates his victory over Democratic...

Stratford Mayor John Harkins, facing, is hugged by his brother, Mike Harkins, of Shelton, following his victory over Democratic challenger Joe Paul at Republican headquarters in Stratford, Conn. on Tuesday, November 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

STRATFORD -- John Harkins became Stratford's first two-term mayor Tuesday night, cruising to an undramatic victory by winning six of the 10 voting districts in town.

The unofficial tally, including absentee ballots, had the incumbent Republican mayor with 5,693 votes, with 4,346 votes going to Joe Paul, the Democratic challenger.

There were two other petitioning candidates on the ballot: Ken Bruno received 269 votes, while George Mulligan -- who's had a presence in all three mayoral elections in town thus far -- received 126 votes.

Harkins, as expected, had a weak showing in the South End of town, losing Districts 2, 3, 4 and 5. Still, this victory for Harkins, while not as overwhelming as it was four years ago, was still convincing.

Harkins captured 54 percent of the vote Tuesday, compared to 41 percent for Paul, who won the Democratic primary.

"It was a good campaign," Harkins said. "Of course I had differences with Joe, but we both stuck to the issues."

This was clearly Harkins' election to lose. He won by a landslide in 2009, capturing 7,334 votes, as compared with 3,912 for then-incumbent Democrat James R. Miron.

That year, Domenic R. Costello had a strong showing as a petitioning candidate with 2,402 votes. But the combined tally of Miron and Costello was still more than 1,000 votes short of Harkins' total that year.

The announcement last week of the sale of the former Army engine plant was a major plus for the Harkins campaign this time around.

Although some regarded the timing of the sale as too convenient for the mayor, that announcement was accompanied by supportive statements from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, all Connecticut Democrats who had a role in the sale of the 77-acre government-owned facility in the South End.

This was where the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair was produced during World War II, as well as the Avco-Lycoming T-53 gas turbine engine for the Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, arguably the most iconic symbol of the Vietnam War.

Paul, meanwhile, was seen as more friendly to the long-shuttered American Shakespeare Theatre. Last week, Matthew P. Catalano, the outspoken 2nd District Republican town councilman, went publicly backed Paul -- the Shakespeare Theatre being a major factor in Catalano's decision to jump ship.

All three challengers focused on the fact that taxes have inched upward over the past four years, but Harkins defended his record, saying that the town was suffering from a threadbare infrastructure when he took over.

Paul praised his campaign workers after conceding at about 8:45 p.m., following the results from nine of the 10 districts.

"This is not the kind of party that I wanted tonight, but I want to thank you all for pouring your hearts into this campaign," Paul said to the 70 or so supporters who jammed into his headquarters on Main Street. "We will be stronger the next time around."